Researchers investigate the relationship between neuroinflammation and MS-related mood symptoms.

Neuroinflammation is associated with anxiety and depression in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), according to results of an exploratory study published in Neurology.

Patients with relapsing-remitting MS (N=405) underwent a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan with gadolinium 5 days before the study. Inflammatory markers and associative incidences of depression and anxiety were then evaluated in this patient group. The State/Trait Anxiety Inventory-state and Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) were used to score depression and anxiety among patients. Active patients were deemed to have experienced clinical relapses or signs of activity at MRI.

There were greater State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-state) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) scores among relapsing patients compared with remitting patients. With the reduction of neuroinflammation, researchers observed a significant decrease in STAI-state and BDI-II scores. In addition, investigators observed a stepwise increase in BDI-II with increasing duration of disease (P <.01).

Levels of interleukin-2 cerebrospinal correlated with STAI-state, whereas BDI-II was associated with tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 1 beta. Higher Interaction Anxiousness Scale and STAI-state scores were observed at baseline among patients with clinical/radiologic reactivation of disease at 6 months (P <.05). Disease reactivation occurred more frequently in patients with clinically significant state anxiety (P <.01), and high STAI-state scores at baseline were found to predict disease reactivation risk after logistic regression analyses.